Stairs, curbs, steep ramps, and irregular terrain have long been challenging for wheelchair users to navigate. Despite changes in U.S. federal law to make public buildings and work places more wheelchair accessible, there is a need for wheelchairs that can traverse stairs, curbs and the like. Attempts have been made to design wheelchairs that are capable of climbing stairs, and the like, although the prior art has addressed this problem through mechanical devices, such as cat-tracks, telescoping/manipulating legs, treadmills, articulated axles, and various other mechanical methods including ramps, cable hoists, and low center of gravity designs. Many of the commercial embodiments of such mechanical devices are too heavy and too expensive for the average wheelchair user. In addition, many of these inventions are cumbersome and require some mechanical adjustments, such as laying cat-tracks, to traverse stairs, and, as such, require some dexterity and a degree of physical strength on the part of the wheelchair user. There still exists a need for a relatively lightweight and inexpensive stairclimbing wheelchair, that does not rely on the physical capabilities of the user.
An object of this invention is to provide a relatively lightweight and inexpensive motorized wheeled passenger carrier (WPC) that uses an electronic controller to actively stabilize the WPC and which is capable of traversing stairs and the like, without regard to any physical capabilities of the passenger.